What comes to mind when you think of a “Japanese first-person shooting game?” Maybe something along the lines of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard or Resident Evil Village? While some other titles may pop up – most of them just aren’t comparable to hit games in genres such as (the obvious) JRPGs or action games, per se. There are, in fact, many Japanese FPS games, even by AAA companies, that feel like the developers just couldn’t find the sweet spot that could launch them to success.
However, interestingly enough, one of the only, if not the only successful first-person shooters in Japan – Beyond Citadel – was actually created by an indie developer. That developer, who goes under the name Doekuramori, posted a thread on their X account, proposing a theory on why AAA developers in Japan haven’t been able to create a successful FPS game. They say that, in the past years, many major developers focused on trying to replicate other Western hit shooters such as Call of Duty – and failed. Rather than riding on Western trends, the indie developer says that the key to making a successful Japanese FPS is to focus on making gameplay Japanese devs actually excel at.
Doekuramori starts their thread explaining that the reason why most Japanese CoD-like first person shooters failed is because Japanese people do not have the needed knowledge of military [history] to be able to create a CoD-like game. “Japanese developers tried playing in a field that they were inherently not great at, and they failed.”
They note that even Western developers themselves had a hard time trying to mimic the game that Call of Duty is, with Medal of Honor: Warfighter as one of the most evident examples – especially because Call of Duty itself was created by the original Medal of Honor development team. With even Western developers struggling to make a successful CoD-like game, there was no hope for the Japanese developers to succeed.
“The most entertaining thing about CoD,” they continue, “is how effortlessly cool it was.” However, Japanese CoD-like games could not replicate this. They say that, while CoD’s gameplay wasn’t perfect, the cool production made it barely noticeable, which resulted in a great overall experience. However, as they explain, “gameplay is Japanese developers’ strongest suit,” and by giving up on it in favor of making a game similar to CoD, they ultimately set themselves up for failure.
Their suggestion for Japanese developers who want to succeed in making a triple-A first person shooter is to “stop trying to make CoD” and compete in the market with games that they are naturally good at making. As examples of Japanese games that succeeded in this, they list Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village.
Japanese game direction generally ends up looking redundant when they’re trying to make it resemble Western movies or TV series, they explain. Even Kojima Productions, that is currently the closest studio to nailing that vibe, can’t avoid that. “Japanese developers don’t have enough knowledge to create such military-themed works, and their audience lacks the knowledge as well.”
“The people who developed Call of Duty had quite a lot of knowledge on the topic – and the same goes for the audience,” Doekuramori explains. The developers trust the audience to know all these things, so they can just casually drop niche information without any explanation, not worrying that the audience won’t be able to understand it – and that’s what makes the game cool. “Kojima Productions does have the knowledge, but it does not trust its audience. This is why they start explaining each and every detail, and that’s how their games end up feeling redundant.”
Capcom also often does the Western-movie-like production, but that is not what their games are praised for – “Ever since the original Resident Evil, Capcom’s western-like direction looked tacky. However, they also didn’t forget to prepare gameplay that would actually leave the players satisfied. That is why their games are highly praised.”
Ultimately, Call of Duty is a game that is entertaining to play because of its production – and when that is the case, “trying to spell out everything to the player would just be redundant,” Doekuramori says. If the cool vibe is what makes CoD work as a game, then you shouldn’t explain every little detail.
“However, if you’re going entertain the player through actual gameplay, then you need to properly explain the rules. Entertaining the player with production, as CoD-like games should do, means that you have to sacrifice the gameplay. It’s one or another.”
Doekuramori believes that Japanese studios are overwhelmingly strong when it comes to gameplay, which is why they would easily be able to create a AAA shooting game if they just capitalized on that strength. “Without its production, Call of Duty would just feel empty. Just because something was popular, doesn’t mean it needs to be copied.”
“What comes to mind when you think of a “Japanese first-person shooting game?””
Probably House of the Dead or Time Crisis.
I feel like the conversation gets muddled because, even in 2025, there are a fair number of people who still hold onto the logic that the Japanese game industry cannot make a good FPS; they should stick to storytelling and other rpg-adjacent elements. In truth, Japan has always had a fascination with FPS games, and it’s only now, when the tools and skills are readily available, do indie developers really start to cut their teeth on the genre. Triple A developers in Japan are generally not going to make a risk like they did in the late 90s and early 2000s because they possibly believe there’s no new ground to tread, or that the investment in a FPS genre won’t take off. I’m certain that it’s going to be developers like Doekuramori and games like Beyond Citadel that will make This outlier more mainstream in the future. People just have to accept that it won’t be a CoD clone. It’ll be something unique. It has to be.